Background
on Vietnam
Historically, Vietnam had been occupied by foreigners for hundreds of years,
including the Chinese, French, and Japanese. However, most of the Vietnamese
were nationalistic and believed in their right to self-governance. Perhaps the
most well-known of these leaders pushing for a free Vietnam was Ho Chi Minh,
who petitioned for freedom at Versailles. After being ignored at Versailles, Ho
continued to believe in Vietnamese nationalism but turned to communism after
visiting the Soviet Union. Eventually, after years in exile, Ho organized the
Vietminh, which consisted of nationalists that were both communist and noncommunists. Together, this group would fight against the imperial forces within
Vietnam, starting with Japan in the early 1940s.
Upon Japan’s defeat in WWII, Ho believed that Vietnam would become a free
state. Instead, France reclaimed their colonial empire in Indochina and the
Vietminh began a battle against the French. Over time, the Vietminh slowly
gained land and power that forced the French to ask the United States for help.
This request put the U.S. in a difficult position as it had opposed colonialism
through the region, but also viewed Vietnam as a danger to fall to communism.
Finally, the United States would opt to help France because of the domino
theory, which believe that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast
Asia would fall as well.
Dien Bien Phu
The Vietnamese nationalist fighters (known as the Vietminh) frustrated the
imperialistic French forces by using guerrilla warfare tactics such as ambushes,
hit-and-run attacks, and insurgents that mixed in with the general population
throughout the country. This made fighting very difficult for the French forces
and the Vietminh slowly made advances in regaining territory. As time
progressed and death tolls rose, many fighters, French citizens, and foreign
nations began to question French control in the region.
As a last ditch effort to keep their colonial empire, the French opted to occupy
the town of Dien Bien Phu , a mountain town in the northern part of Vietnam,
which was a major supply line city for the Vietminh. To retaliate, the Vietminh
brought forth huge numbers of troops and surrounded the city. Soon after they
unleashed a huge bombardment of the city and forced the French to withdraw
from Vietnam. Ultimately, the Vietminh lost many soldiers in this conquest, but
the battle would signal the beginning of discussions about peace in Vietnam.
Geneva
Accords
The defeat at Dien Bien Phu humiliated the French and officially turned the
tide of French public opinion against the war. The French government, wanting
to end the fighting, organized the Geneva Conference, which lasted until
July1954. At the conference, diplomats from France, Vietnam, the United
States, the USSR, Britain, China, Laos, and Cambodia declared a cease-fire and
decided to split Vietnam officially at the 17th parallel, into Communistcontrolled North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam that would
eventually be led by pro-Western Ngo Dinh Diem.
The Geneva Accords, as these agreements were called, also required French
withdrawal from North Vietnam, Viet Minh withdrawal from South Vietnam,
and independence for Cambodia. The accords also promised reunification of
Vietnam after free elections, which were to be to be held by July 1956. As it
turned out, these elections were never held as Diem feared Ho Chi Minh and the
communists would win. The United States backed this decision and began to
increase aid to the anti-communist South Vietnamese.
America’s
Role: Vietnam
American involvement in Vietnam began during the post-WWII discussions
about Indochina. After the defeat of the Japanese, President Truman opted to
help the French regain control of their former colonial possession to avoid the
communist party from gaining control. Shortly thereafter, the Vietminh would
defeat the French and the Geneva Accords would divide the nation into two. At
this time, Eisenhower opted to continue the American view of doing whatever it
U. S. TROOP TOTALS IN VIETNAM
takes to stop communism but violating the agreement of free elections and
providing aid to the non-communist South Vietnamese.
Eventually, as South Vietnam struggled with battles from the communist
Vietcong, Eisenhower would send military advisors to help the South
Vietnamese forces train. Over time, as the Vietcong continued to frustrate the
military of the south, the United States would increase its military involvement
under the watch of President Kennedy. By 1963, the number of American
military personnel in Vietnam had grown from about 2,000 to 13,000. This
slow escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam would continue until 1969.
Diem & South
Vietnam
Diem, despite his Catholic faith and dictatorial tendencies, had been widely
respected as a sincere nationalist in the years before he came to power. He was
in many respects just as nationalistic as Ho Chi Minh and it was for these
reasons that the United States felt that Diem represented the best hope for a
strong South Vietnamese government that could resist Communist influence.
As it turned out, Diem’s regime was undemocratic, corrupt, extreme from the
beginning, and dependent on U.S. strength. Though Diem was popular among
Catholics and had some influence in South Vietnam’s cities, his regime was
universally hated in rural areas, which proved a perfect hiding and training
ground for Communist forces. In a nation as undeveloped as Vietnam was at the
time, power in the cities meant far less than it would have in a developed
country. To worsen the situation even more, Diem discriminated against
Buddhists, which comprised a large portion of the population. This led to many
protests, including famous protests where monks would pour gasoline over their
robes and burn themselves to death.
Though the United States established Diem as leader to halt Communist
expansion, his repressive techniques, corrupt government, and inept public
relations caused much more trouble for the US than expected. Ultimately, the
military would coup against Diem and overthrow the unpopular leader.
Looking back, Diem’s legacy includes a great increase in the the number of
active southern Communists and a huge threat to communist expansion.
Gulf of
Tonkin
On August 2, 1964, President Johnson announced that North Vietnamese boats
had fired on two American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, the
president reported that another similar attack had taken place. Johnson insisted
that the actions were unprovoked and ordered an American response. He did
not reveal that American warships had been helping the South Vietnamese spy
against North Vietnam.
As the events progressed, Johnson asked Congress to give him the authority to
defend American forces and allies in Southeast Asia. Without much opposition,
the Senate and House passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that essentially gave
the president new war powers by allowing him to “take all necessary measures
to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent
further aggression.”
After this resolution, the Vietcong began to attack bases with Americans
stationed within and Johnson began to bomb North Vietnam. This led to
Johnson’s approval rating rising and continued involvement by the US in the
war. After the war, Congress passed the War Powers Act to reign in some of the
powers regarding presidential actions during conflicts.
A Stalemate
of a War
As fighting in the war began to pick up during 1965, neither side seemed to take
great control of the war. The South Vietnamese, with help from the United States,
were still fighting off the guerrilla tactics employed by the Vietcong. Meanwhile, the
United States worked on new techniques in an attempt to defeat the North
Vietnamese and the Vietcong communists living in South Vietnam.
“Search and Destroy” missions were the main focus of the American forces as they
attempted to defeat the guerrilla warriors. These missions focused on finding enemy
troops, bombing their positions, and destroying their supply lines in an effort to force
a conventional open area combat zone. Two of the ways they did this was through
the use of napalm, a jellied gasoline that explodes on contact and sticks to whatever
it touches, and Agent Orange, a chemical that destroys the leaves on trees and shrubs
in order to open up the visibility of the thick jungles. Unfortunately for the United
States, the Vietcong numbers were greater than they expected and the guerrilla
fighters had no intention to the let the bombing campaigns and search-and-destroy
missions stop their communist cause.
On the other side, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese needed to support one another
in the fight for a united, communist Vietnam. To do so, they relied on the Ho Chi
Minh Trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia instead of through the
Vietnamese de-militarized border. By opting to go through these other nations, the
United States refused to attack and this series of jungle paths became a primary
mover of goods and arms between the communist rebels of the South and the
governing body of the North.
Tet Offensive
and the Media
On January 30, 1968, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops launched a massive
invasion of South Vietnam. Surprising them on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), the
guerrillas and North Vietnamese army attacked most American airbases in South
Vietnam and most of the major cities in the region. As part of this invasion, the
Vietcong blasted their way into the American embassy in Saigon.
In terms of effectiveness, the Tet Offensive was a disaster for the Vietcong as they
faced heavy losses and were nearly destroyed. However, in political terms, the Tet
Offensive was a major victory as Americans were shocked to hear that an enemy
rumored to be close to defeat could launch such a major attack of cities, airbases, and
embassies.
Following these events, General Westmoreland, the head of American forces in
Vietnam, requested an additional 209,000 troops to the effort and Americans believed
this was a sign of fighting a losing war. President Johnson’s approval rating fell to a
low of 35% and his handling of the war approval rate was an even lower 26%. Once
this change of opinion about Vietnam occurred, the media jumped on the
bandwagon and began to openly criticize the war effort. Even Walter Cronkite, the
most trusted man in news, was even quoted as saying “more certain than ever that the
bloody experience in Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.”
Anti-War
Movement
As the war in Vietnam progressed, many Americans began to question the
accounts of the war. While generals and high ranking officials such as the
commander of forces in South Vietnam William Westmoreland reported that the
United States was easily winning the war, media reports reported otherwise. As
footage of combat was shown on television each day, people around the US saw
images of dead and wounded U.S. soldiers and began to doubt the reports.
Overall, this created a credibility gap, where it was difficult for the average
American to believe the official government reports.
Another means in which anti-war discussions occurred was through the practice
of teach-ins, which were open conversations about the issues surrounding the
war. These teach-ins often occurred at college campuses and later spread to
radio broadcasts heard by thousands. Generally speaking, these teach-ins
looked at the merits of war, the dictatorship we were supporting, and the reality
that this was a civil war between the nationalist groups in Vietnam.
Other protests and actions against Vietnam were also prevalent throughout
society, including draft card burning, protests, music of the time, and creation of
new groups like the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society). These actions
would continue throughout the war and only intensify as the US expanded its
war into Cambodia, sparking the deadly protests at Kent State University and
Jackson State College.
Vietnamization
Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard M. Nixon administration during
the Vietnam War, as a result of the Viet Cong's Tet Offensive, to expand, equip, and
train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at
the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops. The idea behind
this process would save American lives but still keep a strong American presence in
the region. The other advantage to this in Nixon’s mind was that it kept the U.S. in a
powerful position during all peace negotiations in Vietnam since the U.S. troops
were still active. As part of this proposal, Nixon announced the withdrawal of
25,000 soldiers on June 8, 1969.
Vietnamization fit into the broader Nixon Administration détente policy, in which the
United States no longer regarded its fundamental strategy as containment of
Communism, but a cooperative world order in which Nixon and his chief
adviser Henry Kissinger were basically "realists" in world affairs, interested in the
broader constellation of forces. Basically, Kissinger would embrace a policy known
as linkage that would improve relations with the communist Soviet Union and China
so that he could persuade them to limit their support to North Vietnam.
Ultimately, the peace negotiations would fail for some time but on January 27, 1973,
the U.S. promised to withdraw all troops and exchange POWs. The war ended, but
many questions were left unanswered, including South Vietnam’s future. Two years
later, the North once again attacked the South and the US stayed out. Within two
months, Saigon had fallen and was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam was
officially a communist nation.
My Lai
Massacre
On March 16, 1968 the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade,
Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai. A short time later the killing
began. When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the U.S. political
establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American public.
My Lai lay in the South Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily mined area where the
Vietcong were deeply entrenched. Numerous members of Charlie Company had been
maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks. The agitated troops, under the
command of Lt. William Calley, entered the village poised for engagement with their elusive
enemy.
As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it soon degenerated into the massacre of over
300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly. Calley ordered
his men to enter the village firing, though there had been no report of opposing fire.
According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted,
praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped
and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up a group of the villagers,
ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire. Calley
eventually went to prison for his role in the killings.
Though most American soldiers acted responsibly throughout the war, the actions of this
group at My Lai convinced many that the war was burtal and senseless. Once again, the
American public was unhappy with the war effort.
Pentagon
Papers
In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a former worker in the Defense Department, leaked
the documents collectively known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York
Times. These documents revealed that many U.S. officials during the Johnson
administration had questioned the war effort behind close doors, even though
they were openly defending it in the public eye. These documents showed
details of how the executive office of the president had expanded the war effort
without Congressional approval and how the various presidents had continually
tried to convince America that the situation was better than it really was. These
papers also revealed to the public the expansion of the war into Laos and
Cambodia and showed American plans to change the scope of the war without
the public having any idea. Ultimately, for many Americans, these papers were
the confirmation that the government had lied to the people of the United States.
In the aftermath of the Pentagon Papers, public opinion for the war start a stark
drop, the U.S. would eventually pull out of Vietnam, and peace talks would
increase, and Vietnam would fall to communism without U.S. support within
four years.